Buffing and polishing machine.



PATENTED DEC. 12, 1905.

J. J. SWEENEY.

BUFFI NG AND POLISHING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 16- 1905. v

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

IPATENTED DEC. 12, 1905.

J. J. SWEENEY.

BUPFING AND POLISHING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 16.1905.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UNITED STATES PATENT oEEIoE. I

BUFFING AND POLISHING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented. Dec. 12, 1905.

Application filed June 16, 1905. Serial No, 265,581.

To aZZ whom, it Wad/y concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN J. SWEENEY, a citizen of the United States, residing in the borough of Manhattan, in the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bufiing and Polishing Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the class of machines which employ rotary grinding, bufling, and polishing wheels; and the object is to provide a simple machine of this class suitable for buffing and polishing both faces simultaneously of such articles as trays and the like stamped up from sheet metal and usually plated. The uses of the machine, however, are not limited to buffing or polishing any particular class of goods.

In the accompanying drawings, which serve to illustrate a practical embodiment of the invention, Figure 1 is a front elevation of the machine. Fig. 2 is a plan thereof. Fig.

3 is a side elevation as seen from the right. in

Fig. 1, and Fig. 4 is a side elevation as seen from the opposite side.

1 designates the supportin frame and legs of the machine, and 2 the fixed bed of the same. Mounted in fixed bearings 3 on the bed 2-is a shaft 4 to carry a buffing, polishing, or grinding wheel 5. This shaft is driven from a counter-shaft 6, through abelt 7 and pulleys 8, and the counter-shaft is driven from any source of power through a belt 9 and pulley 10 in a well-known way. Another counter-shaft 11 is driven from the shaft 6 by suitable pulleys and a cross-belt 12, and from this counter-shaft 1 1 is driven a shaft 4 through the medium of a belt 7 a and pulleys 8 This shaft 4 carries a buffing, polishing, or grinding wheel 5*. The bearings 3 of the shaft 4 are mounted on a slidable bed 13, which is mounted in guides 14, extending transversely of the fixed bed 2. A spring or springs 15, Figs. 1 and 2, serve to move the bed 13 to the right and hold the wheel 5 normally away from the wheel 5, as seen in Fig. 1, and a treadle 16, adapted to be depressed by the foot of the operative, acts through a lever 17 to move the wheel 5 up to the wheel 5, as will be hereinafter explained. The lever 17 is fulcrumed at 18 and coupled to the slidable bed at 19.

A platform 20 for supporting the article to be buffed or polished is hinged at 21 to an upright 22 on the fixed bed, as seen in Figs. 3 and 4, and this platform rests on an adjusting-screw 23 in the bed. In the upper surface of the platform is formed aguiding-channel 24, in which the article A being buffed or polished is guided. Back of the bufiing or polishing wheels is a concave limiting-stop 25, mounted yieldingly on the upright 22 and backed by a spring 26.

The operation of the machine will now be explained, premising that the machine as herein represented is designed for polishing simultaneously the two faces of a rather shallow circular tray or the like made from sheet metal. The operative mounts on the shafts 4 and 4 suitable polishing, .bufiing, or grinding wheels 5 and 5". These wheels are well known, and he will select wheels suited for the purpose intended. He then sets the machine in motion, and the gearing or belting is such that the two wheels rotate in opposite directions, as indicated by the arrows in Fig. 1. He then places the article A in the channel 24 and by means of the treadle 16 brings up the wheel 5 to the Wheel 5 in such a manner that the article A will be embraced between them. The rotation of the wheels tends to rotate the tray, and this tendency is partially resisted by the operative, who is thus enabled by pushing the article in gradually until its center is between the wheels to bring the polishing-wheels to bear on all parts of its surface from center to periphery, the gradual rotation of the tray aiding, of course, in this. When the article is-polished or buffed to the extent desired, the operative removes the pressure from the treadle, the wheel 5 is retracted by the springs 15, and the article removed. By varying the pressure of the treadle the operative may increase or diminish the pressure of the wheels on the surface to be buffed or polished. Obviously the wheels 5 and 5 may be changed or substituted at will and the articles may be treated more than once to get the desired result. v

The present invention is not restricted to a machine for operating on any special article or merely for polishing an article. The efiect produced on the article will depend, of course, on the kinds of wheels 5 and 5 used. These need not be of the same kind nor of the same diameter.

The platform 20 Will be adjusted up and down to suit the variation in the diameters of the trays, pans, or other articles to be finished on the machine.

Abrading-wheels for grinding, polishing,

and buffing are in common use, and bufifing is herein meant any wheel of this general character.

The characteristics which distinguish this machine from those in common use for grinding and polishing so far as known are mainly as follows: In this machine one grindingwheel is only movable rotatively, the other wheel moving up to and away from it. The laterally-movable grinding-wheel is moved away from the other wheel by automatic means and is brought up to the other wheel with varying pressure by the operator. The tray or article to be polished or buifed is not forced between the wheels to separate them. The support for the article to be polished does not move to and fro either up and down or horizontally with the article, but is stationary while the machine is in use. It is adjustable up and down by a screw, and the article is guided in a groove in its surface. There is a yielding limiting-stop, which is curved or concave about concentrically with the edge of the tray.

Having thus described my invention, I claim 1. A machine for the'purpose specified, having two rotatable buffing-wheels, means for rotating said wheels in opposite directions, means actuated by the operative for bringing said wheels together with the desired pressure on the article to be buffed or polished, means for supporting the article between the buffing-wheels, and automatic means for separating said wheels.

2. A machine for the purpose specified, having two rotatable buffing-wheels, means for rotating said wheels in opposite directions, means actuated by the operative for bringing said wheels together with the de sired pressure on the article to be buffed or polished, an adjustable non-moving support for the article to rest on while being polished, and automatic means for separating said wheels.

3. A machine for the purpose specified, having two rotatable buffing-wheels, means for rotating said wheels in opposite directions, means actuated by the operative for bringing said wheels together on the article to be buffed or polished, the hinged and channeled and normally non-moving platform to support the article being polished, the screw which regulates the height of said platform, and automatic means for separating the buffing-wheels.

4. A machine for the purpose specified, having two rotatable bufling-wheels, means for rotating said wheels in opposite directions, means actuated by the operative for to be buffed or polished, automatic means for separating said wheels, the hinged and channeled non-moving platform 20 to support the article being polished, the means for adjusting the height of said platform, the limitingstop 25, and the spring 26 back of said stop.

6. A machine for the purpose specified, having two rotatable buffing-wheels, one only of which is movable laterally toward and from the other, means for rotating said wheels in opposite directions, automatic means tending to draw the laterally-movable wheel away from the other wheel, normally operative mechanism for pressing the laterally-movable wheel up toward the other wheel with variable pressures, and a nonmoving but adjustable support for the article being polished.

7. A machine for the purpose specified, having two rotatable buffing wheels, one only of which is movable laterally toward and from the other, means for rotating said 1 wheels in opposite directions, automatic, yielding means for moving the laterally-movable wheel away from the other, an adjustable support for the article being polished, and a treadle mechanism for pressing the laterally-movable wheel up to and against the article being polished.

8. A machine for the purpose specified, having a fixed supporting-bed, a shaft 4 rotatively mounted on said shaft, a bufling- JOHN J. SWEENEY.

Witnesses:

WILLIAM J. FIRTH, H. G. Hosn. 

